5 things that ruin Call of Duty: Black Ops, likely MW3 too

A few of the writers for Product-Reviews are big Call of Duty games, recently we were having a little chat and shared our opinions on the imperfections in Black Ops which we don’t want to see in Modern Warfare 3, we were all on the agreement that the campaign was pretty solid, however some of the multiplayer elements were far from perfect.

Let’s start by stating the obvious, Black Ops was developed by Treyarch and Modern Warfare 3 is being developed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, therefore there is no reason for Black Ops’ imperfections to carry across to MW3, however as they are both part of the Call of Duty series don’t be too surprise if they do.

We have put together a list of five things which in our opinion ruin Call of Duty: Black Ops, we seriously hope that these do not affect Modern Warfare 3, have a quick read then let us know in the comments section below if you agree with our opinions.

My personal gripe is with something which has annoyed me for a long time when playing Call of Duty games online, this is Second Chance / Last Stand. A previous post which I wrote (here), lots of people were in agreement that it was unrealistic for someone to be shot and instantly pull out a pistol and kill you in retaliation before you could finish them off.

Spawn trapping is a problem on some of the Black Ops multiplayer maps, to be fair to Treyarch their devs have been patching Black Ops regularly to combat this along with other issues, but surely Infinity Ward and Sledehammer games will take this into consideration before MW3 is released, perhaps larger most versatile maps will assist this, or perhaps more interactive maps could be used to combat this. In Black Ops one player once managed to get a kill to death ratio of 501-8, this needs to stop.

Camping, if you can name a first-person shooter which doesn’t have its fair share of campers I would be surprised, there are games like Medal of Honor which do not allow you to lay down (prone), this does completely rule out camping, however it is a bit dramatic. We would love MW3 to combat campaign in a more intelligent way, perhaps perks could wear out if you do not use them, what do you think?

When playing Black Ops on a regular basis you will notice that you will tend to be killed by a handful of weapons, this may be because of poor weapon balancing, once you unlock the AK74U you will be mad to switch to any other sub machine gun (depending on game mode), whilst some of the assault rifles are far inferior to others. Do you think that this is a problem? Or do you think that this allows you to use experience to choose the perfect class?

Finally we will talk about knife kills and the unrealistic lunge distance associated with it, for us it seems mad that you can sometime unload 10 bullets into an enemies torso without killing them, whilst if you are prone and slice someone’s ankles they die instantly, perhaps different parts of the body should result in different amounts of damage being caused. Also the lunge distance is sometimes extremely unrealistic, check out this video to see what we mean.

These are five problems which we would like to see addressed when Modern Warfare 3 arrives. Do you agree with out article? Is there a bigger problem which should be fixed? Let us know in the comments section below.

urmmm what about the laggy connection >< the need for dedicated servers

Anonymous

Definately the difference in guns is annoying. If you get the jump on someone and put half a clip in them and then they turn around and put 3 bullets in you and you die. It shouldnt matter what gun you have, if you put bullets in someone first you should win the gun fight

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JI5FILC4OVYDUCKZEZXQDXMOKU Crepes Crepon

I must say, I absolutely agree with this post. Unles you are a blind fanboy, then this article is irrelevant. I for one am one who absolutely has been playing the hell out of this game. prestige 10, zombie maps in the forties, but just cuz im a fanboy, does not mean i must close my eyes to reality right? The lag in this game is TERRIBLE. I cannot count the times i lost high round zombie matches cuz of FREAKING lag!!!AAAARRRRrrggghh!!!! Or what about being in high round zombie matches (keepin in mind that high rounds (35 and Up), freaking hosts ending games cuz they SUCk, or are simply Bad teamplayers…i have had players end games on me on rounds 29 (maybe 30) but 29 FOR sure, on various occassions. The hit detection is horrible on this game. I see an enemy, and i have to run, but on his screen, i never made it to the wall i ran to. Very frustrating. or how about a long game of HQ, normally 14 mins, you hold it down well, only for the host to leave, and since no “suitable” host can be found, “oops” start the round all over again I distinctly remember a time in which this happened 4 times straight. Very bad design. It is unacceptable that the “BEst selling franchise of all time” refuses to make dedicated servers. How about the NAt type influence on your gaming. The open Nat type connections have a head start. the moderate nat types are in trouble, and those like me Strict Nat types are straight up screwed. the way to fix it, is through “port forwarding” but this can be a daunting task. :( because of this i never truly know i went down cuz of these issues, or the enemy was really better than me.
Frankly, i continue to put time into this cuz of SO much time i already have. But MW 3 will not be getting picked up by me unless these issues are addressed. (So forget running to get it on Day one).unless fixed, i will MOST probably fix my attention on Battlefield 3. though i am not a fan of the series, dedicated servers sounds VErY attractive. cod is really plagued with issues, but since us the gamers always rush to get these games, the devs never really take em seriously….I often wonder and even express it to my friends online that we are WAYYYYY tooooo forgiving towards a game sO full of problems

Ut_alucard

The main problem with the series is the damn lack of recoil. COD4 was the best in the series and after that has been downhill. In black ops u have people spraying guns all around the map its madness. Takes no skill at all to get a kill and its so hard to be consistent since u have nub camping from windows and cracks spraying a gun with a long ass clip and zero recoil killing u. U know how u get rid of camping? put recoil on guns, it will make it harder for u to get kill by damn nubs. Y make 40 different types of guns if they all spray the damn same, its retarded. In COD4 u had a nub spraying at u and if u had any skill u would be able to maneuver and not get hit, there is no point in jumping or crouching or anything in black ups u just die like if u just stood there, lol. They make 5ok guns with different specs and skins and such and they all end up spraying the same with zero recoil, thats teh main problem of the series, they need to go back to COD4 mechanics which was their best title anyway.

Anonymous

I agree with the 5 things wrong and I would also like to state something else I see very wrong, that is the the 3 team kills and your kicked and banned from the lobbies. In my opinion I think that there should be a time sensitive solution to team killing. For instance if you kill someone with a chopper gunner, or B52 bomber I don’t think that should count because most of the time it isn’t intentional. Also, maybe they should change the 3 kill rule depending on time in between each accidental team kill, ex; 1st team kill make you wait 1 minute to respawn, for the second make you wait 2 – 2 1/2 minutes to respawn and for the 3rd make you wait 4 minutes to respawn or something to that nature? What do you think? Also I hope the servers are a lot better because personally I am tired of shooting someone in the face and not even getting a hit marker just to have them kill me in the end, this probably takes anywhere from 10-15 kills from me personally each match I play. Spawn killing pisses me off to no end, second chance is a completely utter epic failure b/s, as far as knife kills goes I would like to know how people knife you while your backs are to each other? There are other things obviously wrong with the game, but this is just to name a few. I completely agree with you about everything, black ops was a complete let down and the only reason I play the game is because all of my friends play and I can’t get them to switch back to MW2. I hope MW3 is an epic SUCCESS!! Hope this was some good feedback!!!

Anonymous

I agree with the 5 things wrong and I would also like to state something else I see very wrong, that is the the 3 team kills and your kicked and banned from the lobbies. In my opinion I think that there should be a time sensitive solution to team killing. For instance if you kill someone with a chopper gunner, or B52 bomber I don’t think that should count because most of the time it isn’t intentional. Also, maybe they should change the 3 kill rule depending on time in between each accidental team kill, ex; 1st team kill make you wait 1 minute to respawn, for the second make you wait 2 – 2 1/2 minutes to respawn and for the 3rd make you wait 4 minutes to respawn or something to that nature? What do you think? Also I hope the servers are a lot better because personally I am tired of shooting someone in the face and not even getting a hit marker just to have them kill me in the end, this probably takes anywhere from 10-15 kills from me personally each match I play. Spawn killing pisses me off to no end, second chance is a completely utter epic failure b/s, as far as knife kills goes I would like to know how people knife you while your backs are to each other? There are other things obviously wrong with the game, but this is just to name a few. I completely agree with you about everything, black ops was a complete let down and the only reason I play the game is because all of my friends play and I can’t get them to switch back to MW2. I hope MW3 is an epic SUCCESS!! Hope this was some good feedback!!!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Brettan-Davis/1818921310 Brettan Davis

Wow. What a bogus article. First of all, Second Chance/Last Stand. I never have trouble taking down those with this on. I never use it either. Frankly, I don’t see what all the whining is about. Maybe nerf the ability to appease others. But remove it entirely? Not cool. Let people play the way they want.

Spawn trapping is a cheap and dishonorable trick. I don’t do it and never liked it. But hit the ground running as soon as you spawn and it shouldn’t be a problem. Same with campers. Hate ‘em. But 9/10 of my kills come from the idiots who stay in the same spot anyway, so the joke is on them.

Poor weapon balance? How about stupid weapon popularity. The AK-47u is garbage. Same as the AK-47 assault rifle. One of the more powerful ARs and SMGs, but they are very inaccurate. I just don’t understand why so many people use them so much. Same with the Galil and FAMAS. Overpowered? Overrated. I purposely lean toward the unpopular, underused guns for more of a reaction. Talk about pissing people off, lol.

And finally, Knives. FPS games 101: You have a gun.–Don’t let other players near you. That means don’t pick your nose while playing one-handed, letting others run up on you (or behind you). This is such a camper’s gripe. and if this guy hadn’t noticed, they FIXED the knife problem in MW2 with Blops.

http://twitter.com/DarthDiggler Rich

Fixed the knife problem in MW2? Is that why people could run through my bullets and still knife me? The whole time I had hit markers and emptied a little over half a clip into them? Sound fixed to you?

None of it ever gets “fixed” they just “tune” the problems. Same issues for every COD game because it’s the same OLD ASS engine using 20 year old source code.

http://twitter.com/DarthDiggler Rich

Fixed the knife problem in MW2? Is that why people could run through my bullets and still knife me? The whole time I had hit markers and emptied a little over half a clip into them? Sound fixed to you?

None of it ever gets “fixed” they just “tune” the problems. Same issues for every COD game because it’s the same OLD ASS engine using 20 year old source code.

1990 Banks

On a Youtube video called MW3 Survival Mode Gameplay on Paris from COD XP – MW3 Link, at the 1.26 mark you can clearly see the knife lunge is exactly the same as in black ops.

Just because second chance/last stand doesn’t give you a problem with taking them down doesn’t mean it doesn’t waste your bullets/time just because their a stupid n00b who wants to live another second.

http://www.facebook.com/khaver.mobeen Khaver Mobeen

I totally agree with what the writer has said about these 5 things. Camping is a big problem in the Call of Duty Series where people just tend to camp and wait for a passerby just to get their killstreaks up, this is a huge problem particularly in Black Ops. Its fine when its S&D, Demolition and C&F but in other game modes, it makes it so frustrating to even bother with the game at all, probably shows people are crap. Last Stand is a useless and most unrealistic perk today, I mean why give a second chance to the person who is just about to be killed and it is most definitely overpowered. There is definitely an issue in the way weapons are balanced, in Black Ops a AK74U is more powerful than most of the Assault Rifles. The whole point of a Multiplayer experience is to make it balanced in every way thus leading to more people playing it. The amount of bullets you have to put in someone is ridiculous, sometimes it maybe half a magazine, sometimes it may be alot more than that. Its just a simple case of a few bullets and you are dead, much like Medal of Honour. Spawn trapping is another issue where the respawn points are just stupid, its need to be where the enemy isnt e.g. opposite side, which is something totally wrong in Black Ops. I would like to see many things mentioned, addressed in MW3 to make the game much better and bring the fun back.

http://twitter.com/DarthDiggler Rich

You didn’t mention Lag, Cheats, Glitchers, Hackers. The lack of dedicated servers for an audience so wide. The fact that the Host will be lagged himself. These aren’t just Black Ops issues, these are COD issues. MW3 will have the same problems day 1.

http://www.facebook.com/khaver.mobeen Khaver Mobeen

if im honest, these issues should be addressed by the time the game releases. Glitchers and Hackers a definite problem as in MW2, that destroyed MW2 in every possible way. When I do go on MW2 now, on the screen some muppet keeps putting a youtube link up which covers most of the screen. This better be fixed or I might have to resort to Battlefield 3.

http://www.facebook.com/khaver.mobeen Khaver Mobeen

if im honest, these issues should be addressed by the time the game releases. Glitchers and Hackers a definite problem as in MW2, that destroyed MW2 in every possible way. When I do go on MW2 now, on the screen some muppet keeps putting a youtube link up which covers most of the screen. This better be fixed or I might have to resort to Battlefield 3.

http://twitter.com/DarthDiggler Rich

You didn’t mention Lag, Cheats, Glitchers, Hackers. The lack of dedicated servers for an audience so wide. The fact that the Host will be lagged himself. These aren’t just Black Ops issues, these are COD issues. MW3 will have the same problems day 1.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IP63JDHIIQAKAEJBGPQOX5STDI Eric

First I will say SecondChance/LastStand will not be in MW3 per Robert Bowling. Spawn trapping not nearly as bad as it was on MW2 (recently started playing again and it is ridiculous). But I assume this will be updated as much as possible to make it harder. Camping just happens. Not much you can do about that. The main problem in finding ways to prevent camping is defining camping. (How much time in one place is camping? or How small of an area do you need to stay in to be considered camping that area?) I believe weapon balancing is getting better and better from game to game and Robert Bowling assures us that they are constantly working to balance weapons on a day to day basis. I personally have had little complaint about balance in Black Ops and I think the variety of weapons I am killed with while playing can attest to that. Knife kills which are much harder in Black Ops than MW2 (albeit still fairly easy) should be dealt with. Robert Bowling has alluded to the fact that they will be dealing with the teleport/lunge issue that has plagued the series in the past. I do agree that knife damage could be relative to the body part at which you are knifed and preferably having to actually touch someone with the knife to get a kill. I believe with the R2 instakill weaponry (throwing knife, tomohawk) knifing need not be such a crucial element. Robert bowling has also stated recently that there will be no advantage to running around with a knife in MW3. I believe he said something to the effect of they will be implemented as a sneak attack or an in a pinch situation as designed. Going on to say that bringing a knife to a gun fight will not work out for you any longer. I have high hopes for MW3 and understand that some of the things people complain about are what makes it such a good arcade style game. If it were completely realistic it would be Battlefield 3. That is not what Call of Duty fans want. We want a fast paced shooter with an arcade feel. And I am confident that is what we will get.

Camping is not that big of a deal. I kind-of do it in free for alls, but if I’m sitting in a building, and 10 or 15 people run in and try to get me in different ways and fail. It’s not my problem, they can go kill someone else. I do run around alot though. The only way a camper succeeds is by feeding them with running in over and over like a total idiot. I can take out campers no prob… why can’t everyone else?

Anyway, MW2 runs smooth as butter and pretty balanced. Black Ops is jittery, glitchy, laggy, and unbalanced. Though we should’ve seen that coming from W@W. I’m convinced everything Treyarch makes is trash (maybe aside from zombies which is not smooth running either.) I quit BO and went back to MW2, just as I did with W@W and went back to COD4. But none of these games will ever reach their full potential until these idiots use their brains and stop relying on crappy user connections for game hosting. It has always and will always ruin the game.

Camping is a game style not an unfair “Perk”. Not everyone wants to run around like an “Arcade Shooter”. If you camp with a tactical purpose than it’s smart. Otherwise it’s stupid to corner camp waiting for tactical players to get shoot in the back. Likewise it’s stupid to run around, Halo jumping Claymores and drop-shoting with Pythons.

Cwsloan67

Camping is a game style not an unfair “Perk”. Not everyone wants to run around like an “Arcade Shooter”. If you camp with a tactical purpose than it’s smart. Otherwise it’s stupid to corner camp waiting for tactical players to get shoot in the back. Likewise it’s stupid to run around, Halo jumping Claymores and drop-shoting with Pythons.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=723111075 Danial Gorham

spawn camping is caused by map design. each map should be huge, but play area should restrict and expand according to the areas that are in use. like if your team is stuck in a corner of a map being killed than the area behind the spawners should open up giving them room. but never should you be respawned behind the enemy.

Bobsparkle

I’d suggest proof reading your article prior to release. It puts me off when I read something with spelling mistakes or words used in the incorrect context.

BLACKOPSSUCKS

WE WANT NUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Biss101

i honestly think that if the matchmaking in modern warfare 3 is anything like the matchmaking in modern warfare 2 im going to scream there is no reason for the game to put you in the same lobby 10 times before they put you into a different lobby also if there or any of the same glitches like i can put a whole clip into somebody and the run up and knife me or how i could have a shotgun that takes 1 shot to kill someone but takes 5 shots to kill another person i mean come on you gotta do it better then that and for campers i think something should show up on the map or in screen on the game showing all who is camping and where they are camping at im really going to scream then take the game back is mw3 is anything like mw2 but other then the glitches the camping mw2 is a pretty good game

Sadly for us Last stand will be a death streak in MW£ I mean MW3. Also on a Youtube video called MW3 Survival Mode Gameplay on Paris from COD XP – MW3 Link, at the 1.26 mark you can clearly see there is a knife lunge and it is exactly the same as in black ops.

Peter

stop complaining about the community, spawn trapping and camping are community problems, not the game! so stop blaming the developers!

Tmacc96

Gladly Last stand and final stand will not be in Mw3 because its a death streak. Spawn trap is not a going to be as bad as black ops like being behind you with a m60 because of the deaths streaks. As for camping cant be stopped but there are ways to stop it you know. Ak74u i believe is in mw3 so poor gun balancing is there. There is no commando for knifing kills and i heard that the lunge is now shortened.

L Chontay

it is just a game to have fun with your friends make some friend and possible be mean to some people if thats the way u r. it just means they r good playes to camp is stupied but thats the way they are

http://www.facebook.com/robert.giacalone Robert Giacalone

It takes skill to Run & Gun but it takes skill and intelligence to properly defend a position when playing a none Team Deathwatch match. People that constantly complain about ‘campers’ in matches like demolition or domination are people that can’t think. Look above the flag when it turns green, it says ‘DEFEND’ and if you don’t know what that word means get a dictionary and educate yourself.